Twine-holder.



A. M. KELLY &: B'. L. SHANER. TWINE HOLDER. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 23,1914.

1, 1 31,843. Patented Mar. 16, 1915. F9].

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spool.

UNTTED STATES PATNT @FFTQE.

ALEXANDER M. KELLY, OF KNOXVILLE, AND BENTON I. SHANER, OF PITTSBURGH,

. PENNSYLVANIA.

TWINE-HOLDER.

Application filed January 23, 1914.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, ALEXANDER M. KELLY andBENTON L. SHANER, citizens of the United States, residing, respectively,at Knoxville and at Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State ofPennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement inTwine-Holders, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, formingpart of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a view partly in sideelevation and partly in section of a twine holder embodying ourinvention; Figs. 2 and 3 are end views with the cap removed from thedrum and showing the parts in different positions; Fig. 4 is an end viewof the supporting bracket; Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view showing aportion of the shaft and of a twine-holding quill.

Our invention has relation to twine holders, and is designed to providea simple, efficient and convenient form of twine holder which can bemanufactured and sold at a relatively low cost; which can be used in avariety of different positions; and which will automatically wind up anyeX- cess cord or twine which may be pulled off from the spool, thewinding action being effective so long as any cord remains on the Thenature of our invention will be best understood by reference .to theaccompanying drawings, in which we have shown the preferred embodimentthereof and which will now be described, it being premised, however,that various changes can bemade in the details of construction andarrangement of the parts, without departing from the spirit and scope ofourinvention, as .defined in the appended claims. V

In these drawings, the numeral 2 designates a central longitudinalshaft, upon which the spool of cord or twineis slipped. This spool isindicated at A in dotted lines in the drawings. beingv wound upon theusual quill B. The shaft is preferably of wood for the sake ofcheapnesshaving its ends provided with metal ferrules 3, carrying thesquared projections 1, which are designed to rest in squared seats in asupporting bracket and thus hold the shaft against Specification ofLetters Patent.

Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

Serial No. 813,901.

rotation. The supporting bracket which we have illustrated consists of asingle piece of sheet metal having its end portions bent, as shown at 5,to provide parallel supporting arms for the shaft 2. In order to providefor the use of the twine holder in different positions, each of thesupporting arms 5 is shown as having a cruciform slot therein,consisting of the four arms 6, 7, 8 and 9, the slot 9, opening outthrough pne side of the arm. lVhen the twine holder 1s used in theupright position shown in Fig. 1, the squared projections 4 of the shaft2 will rest in the portions 8 of the slots. When the device is used inthe horizontal position, said projections will rest in the portions 7 ofthe slots, and'when the device is used in an inverted suspendedposition,

said projections will rest in the portions 6 of the slots.

.The numeral 10 designates .a cylindrical drum which is mounted torotate on the end portions of the shaft 2. This drum is shown as formedof a sheet metal body having cut therein a plurality of symmetricalspaced openings 11,extending longitudinally thereof, with cap members 12fitted over the end portions of said body. At least one of these capportions is made removable from the body of the drum in order to permitthe spools of cord to he slipped on to the shaft 2. These cap members,as shown in Fig. 1, are made long enough so as to extend over the endportions of the spool A, and thus form guards to prevent the cord fromwinding off of the ends of the spool on to the end portions of theshaft. The slots 11 are also made with curved walls so as to be widestat their central portion, and thereby give a constant tendencyto thecord passing out through any oneof them to be guided toward the center.

By the provision of these, two features, it is impossible for the cordto wind off from the ends of the spool.

13is a flanged end disk seated within one end of the body of the drum torotate therewith.

14: is a piece of spring wire which is secured at one end to the shaft2, its opposite end portion being coiled around a stud or projection'15, on the end disk 13, the free end of the wire bearing against theinner periphery of the drum, as shown at 16. The

free end of the wire 14 is connected by a flexible member, such as achain 17, with the shaft 2. The connection of this chain with the shaftmay be conveniently effected by attaching it to the projecting end of astop am; 18, which projects radially from the sha t.

In use, the free end of the cord is drawn out through any one of theopenings 11 andis partially wrapped around the periphery of the drum 10,with its end hanging in convenientposition. WVhen it is desired to drawoff aportion of the cord for use, this free end is pulled, therebyunwinding the cord from the spool A. The pull on the cord effects arotation of the drum 10, cans ing the chain 17 to wind on the end of theshaft 2, and putting the spring 1% under tension. Fig. 2 showsthe normalposition of these parts, while Fig. 3 shows the positionafter the springhas been placed under tension. The drum is prevented from making morethan slightly less than one complete revolution by means of theengagement of the stop arm 18 with the stud or projection 15. is soon asthe cord is released by the user, the spring 14 at once acts to turnthe. drum in the opposite direction, and thus wind the excess cord uponthe periphery thereof, a length of cord being wound thereonsubstantially equal to twice the perimeter of the. cylinder.

In twine holders previously in use with which we are familiar, and whichhave been provided with winding means for taking up excess cord, suchmeans fail to operate after the major portion of the cord has beenunwound from the spool. This is because of the fact that as the spool ofcord becomes smaller and lighter, it does not offer sufficientresistance to cause the pull onthe cord to operate the winding spring orweight, but the spool rotates freely on the shaft of the holder. Thiswould not occur if the quills upon which the cord is wound were closelyfitted to the shaft, so as to have a considerable frictional engagementtherewith. In practice, however, these quills vary considerably in theirinner diameters and can not be depended upon to fit the shaft closely.W'e overcome this objection by providing the shaft 2 with a springfriction member, such as indicated at 19, in Fig. 5; This member mayconsist of a piece of spring wire having one end secured in the shaftwith its free end portion projecting beyond the periphery of the shaft.When the quill is slipped on the shaft, it causes this member to beslightly compressed back into the recess 20 in the shaft. In thismanneiy the member is caused to have a positive frictional engagementwith the inner surface of the quill B. This frictional engagement issufficient to hold the spool from turning on the shaft except by asufficient pull on thecord to effect the rotation of the drum 10;Consequently, no matter to what extent the'cord may have been unwoundfrom the spool, sufiicient resistance is given the spool to enable thepull on the cord to rotate the drum 10 and put the string 14 undertension. The actual use of twine holders constructed in accordance withour invention has demonstrated that the excessc'ord may be wound up solong as even a very few turns remain on a spool.

The advantages of our invention will be apparent from the foregoing. Theholder is extremely simple in construction and can be manufactured andsold at a comparatively small cost, and the device is extremelyefiicient in its operation.

We claim:

1. A twine holder comprising a spool carrying shaft, a support in whichthe shaft is removably seated andhaving means for holding the shaftagainst rotation, and a drum mounted to rotate on said shaft and toinclose a spool of twine or cord, said drum having cylindrical endportions of suflicient length to extend over the end poi tions of thespool, and the drum intermediateof said end portions having openingsshorter than the length of said spool and having curved walls arrangedto direct the cord toward the centraliportion of the spool,

one of said heads being. removable; substantially as described.

2. A twine holder comprising a spool carrying shaft held againstrotation, a winding drum mounted to rotate about the axis of said shaft,and spring means for actuating said drum, said means comprising. a pieceof spring wire secured to the drum at its intermediate portion with oneof its free end portions bearing against the inner su'rface of the drumand its other free end portion extending in the opposite directionwithin the drum, and a flexible member connecting the last named freeend-portion with said shaft and adapted to be wound upon the shaft asthe drum is rotated; substantially as described.

v 3. A twine holder having a rotary winding drum, a spool-carrying shafton which the drum is mounted to rotate, a' piece of spring wire securedto the drum at one end,

said wire being of a length less than the dlameter, of the drum, aflexible member connecting the free; end of said wire with the shaft.and adapted to be wound upon the interior of the spool for the purposeof in- In testimony whereof, we have hereunto creasing its resistance torotation on said set our hands. shaft, said drum having end heads, oneof ALEXANDER M. KELLY WhlCh is removable, and the drum havm openingsintermediate of said heads, and BENTON SHANER' Winding spring arrangedWithin one of said Witnesses:

heads, and operatively connected With the HENRY DITTMAR,

drum, substantially as described. A. D. HUSTED.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. G."

